Sterling High School announces Students of the Month

Meet Sterling High School students who have been selected students of the month in the first half of the 2023-24 school year.

September 2023

Lucas Austin is a senior and the son of Jason Austin and Karina Austin. His siblings are Reiley, Kate and Madison.

What class do you find really engaging and why?: My favorite and most engaging class is Spanish 4 with Señor Guerrero. The class is taught entirely in Spanish, and I enjoy speaking Spanish the best I can. Señor uses random jokes and stories to make us comfortable while we learn the language.

What are your career and post-graduation plans? What school(s) or other instruction, travel or endeavors do you have planned?: I plan to attend a four-year university and play college football. I hope to major in biology and pursue a medical career.

What are your two favorite extracurricular, volunteer or community activities you participate in?: At Sterling High School I play football and basketball. I enjoy both sports. Football requires 11 people working together for the same goal in order to be successful. Football also allows me to be aggressive while creating opportunities for my teammates. Basketball was my first love and allows me to show my creativity, and I am able to control the game more with my individual play than I can in football.

Please share a moment, group event or activity at school that was meaningful or memorable.: One of the most memorable events from my high school career was breaking the Sterling High School career three-point record during my junior year basketball season. Since eighth grade, I have spent time perfecting my jump shot. I have made over 500,000 shots in the last four years, and to achieve a goal I had set for myself was a great recognition of the work I had put in.

What is your hope for the future?: I want to be the best athlete and student I can be in college. I want to be a person who recognizes the best qualities in everyone and make people smile when I come in contact with them.

October 2023

Lelaina Block, a senior, is the daughter of Maggie Block and Randy Block. She has one sibling, Delia.

What class do you find really engaging and why?: My favorite class this year is AP Psych because I enjoy learning about how the human brain develops and the explanations behind someone’s behavior. My teacher, Mrs. Taylor Jackson, explains what we’re learning in-depth and makes the class really enjoyable for students by offering labs and a lot of opportunities for collaboration with friends.

What are your career and post-graduation plans? What school(s) or other instruction, travel or endeavors do you have planned?: Post-graduation, I plan on going to a four-year university to earn a Bachelor of Science in nursing with the goal of becoming a nurse anesthetist or nurse practitioner. In college, I hope to study abroad somewhere in Europe, preferably Greece or Italy.

What are your two favorite extracurricular, volunteer or community activities you participate in?: My two favorite extracurriculars are soccer and student council. I love playing soccer, and I have gained lots of new friends from my school and club teams. I have played since I was 4, and it’s helped me with communication and teamwork. My other favorite extracurricular is student council because I like planning fun events for students. As president this year, I also enjoy brainstorming new ideas with the exec board on activities to do and new projects we can use to help the community.

Please share a moment, group event or activity at school that was meaningful or memorable.: Going to state for cross country with my team this year was very memorable for me because we’re all good friends, and running with such a large crowd watching motivated me to do better. Also, homecoming Spirit Week this year was a super fun week where our whole senior class went all-out for dress days and the homecoming week competitions.

What is your hope for the future?: My hope for the future is to have a successful career and a family someday. I also hope when I get older I will be able to travel a lot and have many different hobbies outside of work.

November 2023

Kirsten Workman is a senior and the daughter of Brooke Workman and Yancy Workman. She has a sibling, Rowan.

What class do you find really engaging and why?: I found my anatomy and physiology class to be very engaging. I couldn’t ask for a better anatomy teacher than Mrs. Nicole Schlemmer. I loved being able to use the school’s digital anatomy table to better understand the topics I learned in class. Overall, the class really piqued my interest because of all the interactive activities we did throughout the year.

What are your career and post-graduation plans? What school(s) or other instruction, travel or endeavors do you have planned?: After high school I plan to attend college to study physical therapy and pursue a DPT degree. I am not quite sure which college I will be attending at the moment, but the University of Iowa, Augustana and the University of Illinois at Chicago are at the top of my list.

What are your two favorite extracurricular, volunteer or community activities you participate in?: One of my favorite extracurricular activities I participate in is the SHS poms team. Being a captain of the team has taught me leadership skills and given me friends that I will have for the rest of my life. One of my other favorite extracurricular activities is being a part of student council. As the senior representative of student council, I have been able to volunteer in my community as well as my school. Student council has allowed me to participate in many fun service activities.

Please share a moment, group event or activity at school that was meaningful or memorable.: A memorable activity for me at school was the senior sunrise. This was memorable because the senior class met to spend the morning together. It was very calming and fun to hang out will all of my friends and cherish my last year of high school.

What is your hope for the future?: I hope to become a physical therapist after I am done with college. I would like to live somewhere in the South because I prefer the warmer weather to the cold and the snow. I would like to be able to travel out of the country and see the different parts and cultures of the world.

December 2023

Brecken Peterson is Sterling High School Student of the Month for December. A senior, he is the son of Krista and Erik Peterson and has two brothers, Micah and Kaleb.

What class do you find really engaging and why?: Economics is a very engaging class because it concerns material that I am going to pursue in college. Recently I completed a project where I researched successful entrepreneurs and how they built their wealth.

What are your career and post-graduation plans? What school(s) or other instruction, travel or endeavors do you have planned?: I plan to attend a four-year university, majoring in finance. Following my undergrad years, I intend to continue on to pursue my master’s degree in business administration.

What are your two favorite extracurricular, volunteer or community activities you participate in?: Throughout my SHS career, I have enjoyed being an athlete participating in cross country, basketball and tennis. I also found volunteering with my friends at various locations in the community to be very rewarding.

Please share a moment, group event or activity at school that was meaningful or memorable.: One of the most meaningful events during my time at SHS was freshman year, when I qualified for state for the first time in tennis.

What is your hope for the future?: My hope for the future is that I am able to come back to town and use my skills in business to help develop the Sauk Valley area.